MLB Hot Stove and Texas Rangers Victory Celebration

Thank goodness the Rangers won the World Series this year, because the Dodgers made moves this offseason with the intention of winning it for the next decade.  They picked up Shohei Ohtani ($700M), the biggest free agent available, Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325M), the most sought after available pitcher, traded for Rays’ ace, Tyler Glasnow (and signed for $136M), and picked up the hatred of the fans of every other team (they got that one for free).

 

The deals to Shohei and Yamamoto are long-term (10 and 12 years respectively).  Shohei deferred most of his money to allow the Dodgers to swing deals like the ones they made (and possibly avoid California taxes).  The Glasnow deal was for five years and is considered a risk given his health.  For all the hype about Shohei, he seems even more fragile to me.  Yamamoto has a tremendous pedigree from Japan, but hasn’t pitched in the MLB yet.  The back of these guys’ bubble cards says they should be really good, but given the money, they have to be great.

 

With all of this money being thrown around, why is it that it’s other teams in financial trouble?  The Padres traded Juan Soto to the Yankees, probably mostly because of monetary issues.  The Padres’ baseball network went bankrupt and wrecked their balance sheet.  They ended up having to take out a loan to finish the season, because they didn’t get the postseason money they were been expecting.

 

How about those Rangers?  They spent a lot over the last couple of years and were rumored to be in the hunt for Shohei.  Suddenly, they pulled out.  They lost their TV partner and suddenly weren’t sure what their broadcast income was going to be.  There was a deal with the current TV rights holder for several teams to prop them up for another year, but that didn’t include the Rangers.  The Mariners are in a similar situation as their network has bumped their coverage up to premium cable. 

 

Not everyone has been hamstrung.  The Royals have picked up several free agents with their owner opening up his pocketbook.  They’re also trying to get a new stadium.  (Maybe they should have tried swinging that deal the last time they won a World Series.)  They did pick up Will Smith, which means they’ll win the World Series next year (because he’s been on the last three teams that have won).  Orioles picked up Craig Kimbrel to help their bullpen.  If they were willing to trade some of their great minor leaguers, they could probably bolster the team a lot more.  The Diamondbacks are trying to prove this year wasn’t a fluke.  They signed Eduardo Rodriguez and resigned Lourdes Gurriel Jr.  The Dodgers might be meeting the D-Backs again in the playoffs in the future.   

 

The Giants finally landed a big free agent, Korean star Jung Hoo Lee.  Only a foreigner would consider signing with San Francisco without having been there.  They reportedly offered Shohei the same deal the Dodgers did and were turned down for quality of life issues.  Even Buster Posey, who recently moved back to the City, admitted the place has problems.  (When is Buster gonna be a manager?  I’m tired of waiting.)

 

I don’t know if I should be rooting for the Dodgers to fail catastrophically, like the Padres and the Mets, and be a laughingstock, or for them to win the next four World Series and ruin the league from their profligate spending.  Certainly the worst case scenario for the Dodgers would be for them to win the NL West for the foreseeable future, but fail to win the World Series.  

But, forget about that.  Let’s instead celebrate our champions: the Texas Rangers!

I celebrated by going out and getting this ESPN commemorative magazine that was on the racks a couple of weeks after.  I was glad it was available in my area.  I don’t know if it was distributed nationwide.  This was $15.  The pictures inside were good quality shots.  There were a couple good articles on manager Bruce Bochy and GM Chris Young assembling the team.  After that was a recap of the postseason.

In the back was a listing of Ranger greats from the past.  I showed this to dad and he had a moment of nostalgia for Frank Howard.  Honestly, I’d never heard of this player before, but dad had fond memories of him.

I had to over-do it and I ordered another one online from Lindy’s Sports.  I have a couple of other commemorative World Series magazines from them.  This one was $13.

 

I just like this picture.  The magazine has a history of the franchise, a regular season review, profiles of Bochy and several players, and a game-by-game recap of the postseason. 

 

Which one is better?  The ESPN one is probably the better picture book.  The Lindy one is more detailed.  You might look for a Yearbook, which would be produced by the team.  I have a couple of Dodger ones and a Yankee one.  Yes, I hate those teams, but the yearbooks are kinda cool, especially that Yankees one.  It’s huge.  (They were bought for me by friends who were in LA and New York.)

And here I am looking like a total geek.  Boy, khakis and dress shoes do not go with team t-shirts and baseball hats.  My boss went to the Dallas area on a business trip in November.  I asked him to bring me back something from the Rangers.  By luck, the lady he went with wanted to go to a sporting goods store to get something for her son, who is a Rangers fan, so that gave him the opportunity. 

 

It was really nice of him to get the hat and t-shirt for me.  The hat is my new favorite with the World Series Champion patch.  (I have a whole crate-full of hats.)  The shirt is a bit small on me and it’s actually an ALCS t-shirt, but it looks good.  I look forward to wearing this ensemble (with blue jeans) out to an Aggie ball game this spring.